Tattoos have a rich history that spans thousands of years, with evidence of tattooing found on mummies. Originally, tattoos were used for a variety of purposes, such as symbols of status or rank, spiritual or religious reasons, and as forms of punishment or branding for criminals. Tattoos were also used as amulets for protection, marks of fertility, pledges of love, and as a means of identifying members of a group or tribe.
Modern tattoos are a popular form of self-expression, symbolizing personal stories, beliefs, and aesthetics. They’ve moved from taboo to mainstream, reflecting individual identity and cultural diversity.
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Old School RuneScape Tattoos
Old School RuneScape tattoos stand both as a means of self expression, but are also a symbol of belonging to the community. When etched in conspicuous spots, these tattoos transform into subtle signals, inviting real-life connections among players, bridging the virtual world with the tangible through shared passion and recognition and serving as a way to be recognized by other gamers IRL.
Skilling Tattoos
Old School RuneScape skilling tattoos are vibrant tributes to the game’s skilling system, embodying a player’s dedication to mastering specific skills like firemaking, fishing, or woodcutting. These tattoos, often intricate and symbolic, showcase milestones and achievements within the game, like reaching 99, getting millions of XP in a specific skill, or finally getting that skilling pet.
Multi Skills Tattoo
Why choose one skill when you can train them all? Similarly, why tattoo a single skill when you could tattoo multiple skills and have a subtle reference to another. This scaper tattooed 10 skill icons on their fingers: hitpoints, defence, strength, attacks, range, slayer, runecraft, hunter and prayer. They also hinted at the Magic skills by adding tattoos resembling multiple types of runes such as fire rune, cosmic rune, law rune, wrath rune, death rune, air rune, nature rune, and water rune. If you want to see other tattoos displaying OSRS runes, check these out.
Firemaking Tattoo
Firemaking is one of the fastest skills to train. This scaper reached rank 3 with over 25 million Firemaking XP before Wintertodt was introduced to the game to soon become the most popular way of training firemaking. They strategically placed the firemaking icon under their arm so they can carry around a “concealed fire arm”.
Woodcutting Tattoo
Original image source 1 & Original image source 2
Woodcutting is some players’ favourite, especially with such fancy tools like the infernal axe, which gives you both woodcutting and firemaking XP and can save you from having to drop the logs as often as with other axes. This scaper added the infernal axe to their arm and it just hits the perfect spot!
Mining Tattoo
This mining tattoo is a tiny pickaxe and the scaper who has it chose it because they were “mining gold ore 24/7 at the crafting guild back in 2009 at who knows how much each” and their goal back in the day was to save “enough gp to buy blue wiz (g)” according to the post they made in an OSRS facebook group.
Combat skills tattoo
If skilling is not your thing, but combat is, you could still appreciate having some skill icons as tattoos. For example, this scaper got the melee skills tattooed from left to right: the defence skill icon, the strength skill icon, and the attack skill icon. All created in a pixelated art style that makes use of black and grey blocks of colours to imitate the old school style of the game.
Agility Tattoo
This one is a very creative use of the agility icon. This scaper chose to have this tattoo on their calf to remind them of all of the agility courses in Old School RuneScape.
Prayer Tattoo
This Prayer tattoo is just impressive! The attention to details mixed with the intricate geometric shapes celebrate the Prayer skill at a whole new level.
Range Tattoo
This tattoo depicts the Ranged skill from OSRS, marking the wearer as an archer not just in-game but in spirit. It’s a badge of precision, celebrating a player’s mastery of the virtual bow.
Fletching Tattoo
This OSRS-inspired tattoo of crossed arrows symbolizes the Fletching skill, strategically placed on the shoulder to evoke a quiver slung for battle, marking the wearer as a skilled virtual archer ready for action. It was done to celebrate this scaper’s first 99 and they think of it as a “nice symbol of how much this game impacted their life”.
Multi skill icons Tattoo
This tattoo consists of a serious of icons inked around the upper arm. The tattoo contains the following skill icons: attack, fishing, cooking, magic, prayer, woodcutting, mining, and firemaking. Each of the tattoos is a realistic representation of each of the skill icons.
Skills tab tattoo
This is the tattoo one of my clan mates is getting and which they shared in our Discord. The tattoo displays the menu tabs, including the skills tab, prayer tab, and combat tab. It is created in a realistic style that imitates the exact in game visuals.
Fishing – Crafting – Cooking tattoo
This scaper got three 99s and celebrated them with a really awesome realistic tattoo of the skill icons: fishing, crafting, and cooking. They posted the image together with the text “I’m posting my tattoo here because no one else on my FB cares, but I think it’s so cute! These are the 3 capes I have 
guy had no idea what he was tattooing, but he did a great job”.
Magic skill icon tattoo
The magic skill is one of the easiest to train through methods such as splashing and it is both a really useful utility skill as well as one of the combat styles in OSRS. This scaper certainly appreciates the combat potency of this skill since they got both a magic skill icon tattoo an a purple variation of the ice barrage spell on their arm. The tattoos are created with different styles and techniques, but they are linked together through meaning and placement.
Multiple skills tattoo
This leg tattoo has the skills tab icon at the center and it is surrounded by minimalistic copies of the icons of the following skills: Agility, Defence, Slayer, Runecraft, Thieving, Hunter, Firemaking, and Ranged.
Farming skill tattoo
The farming icon skill fits well on the thumb. Probably comes from the “green thumb” expression which I personally know from The Sims and which means to have a natural talent at growing plants. This tattoo is not only a cute one, but its linguistic take makes it even more adorable!
Defence tattoo
Defence is one of the combat skills you should train last. This scaper achieved 99 in defence and to celebrate it got a 99/99 defence tattoo. It is a simple, but meaningful one, created with only black ink in a minimalist style in a spot easy to cover with socks.
Biceps Attack Tattoo
If you’re already at 99 strength, it’s better to get a 99 attack tattoo. That’s exactly what this scaper did when decided to get a skilling tattoo on their biceps and brag with a two in one 99 attack tattoo! The tattoo represents the attack skill icon and the level both contained in the RuneScape box from the skills tab.
99 strength tattoo
If 99 strength is your achievement both IRL and in OSRS then this tattoo is perfect! It shows the strength icon together with the text 99/99 and it’s placed on the shoulder. The strength icon is very detailed with loads of shading while the text is written in the runescape font.
99 Ranged Tattoo
This tattoo displays the Ranged skill icon together with the text 99 / 99 contained in a stylized box. The tattoo is created with only black ink but it contains loads of details.
Cooking Tattoo – Burnt trout
This tattoo is a pixelated depiction of a trout, an iconic catch in OSRS often associated with the Fishing and Cooking skills. The burnt trout is placed on the inner forearm is easily visible, allowing the wearer to showcase their love for the game and its classic, skill-building journey. The scaper explains why they got this tattoo: “started as an inside joke with the fam, then I did a 24h trout cooking stream, then I put up a sub goal, reached it, and got the tatt as promised”.
Lobster Tattoo
This tattoo portrays a stylized, geometric lobster, a nod to the Fishing skill in Old School RuneScape, where catching lobsters is a notable milestone for player as well as a reminder of the old days. The design’s angular, modern twist on the classic 8-bit aesthetic mirrors the game’s pixel art style.
The bold orange color captures the lobster’s vibrant hue after being cooked in the game, a task that requires proficiency in the Fishing and Cooking skills. This tattoo not only celebrates the player’s in-game achievements but also displays a creative, modern twist on the OSRS aesthetic. The choice to have it inked on the arm provides visibility, signifying the wearer’s proud to be a runescaper as they should be!
Shrimps tattoo
This Old School RuneScape inspired tattoo displays one of the lowest level fish you can catch when you start training your Firshing skill: Shrimps. It is created with brown ink and it’s created in a realistic style that uses detailed shading and very fine lines and dots.
Crab Tattoo
Positioned on the side of the neck, this small crab tattoo is a bold statement, symbolizing the wearer’s connection to Old School RuneScape. It’s a discreet yet prominent declaration of the player’s gaming passions, reflecting the importance of Fishing, Cooking and afk combat in OSRS.
Trout tattoo
This tattoo features an abstract, geometric interpretation of a trout, a common fish in Old School RuneScape). Its angular design gives it a modern, stylized look that contrasts with the game’s classic pixelated art style. The clean lines and sharp angles of the trout tattoo make it a minimalist yet bold expression of the player’s achievements in the game, symbolizing the patience and persistence required to skill up in OSRS. The size and simplicity of the design speak to a refined aesthetic, one that mirrors the straightforward yet rewarding experience of fishing in the rivers of Gielinor.
